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Wednesday, December 2, 2015

"Equality is just that – equal – and when individuals are no longer treated equally but, rather, given special status and privilege because of their race, that's not equality – that's a form of racism..."

University of Illinois students form 'White Student Union' so all races can be equally represented on campus

by: J. D. Heyes

With so much outsized attention on racialist minority groups like "Black Lives Matter," whose followers have been demanding special privileges on college campuses and in communities throughout the country, it was only a matter of time before such movements met with resistance.

In recent days a group of white students attending the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have formed their own white-centric organization – the White Student Union – in direct response to the establishment of a Black Lives Matter chapter on campus. According to the group's Facebook page, there is a similar chapter at the University of Iowa.

As reported by The Washington Post, the White Student Union was formed by members of the student body who felt as though the Black Lives Matter movement was more about "terrorism" than activism.

Created November 16 following a campus protest that was sympathetic to the Black Lives Matter movement, the White Student Union page announced it was "for white students of University of Illinois [sic] to be able to form a community and discuss our own issues as well as be able to organize against the terrorism we have been facing from Black Lives Matter activists on campus," The Daily Illini reported.

Campus administrators really don't believe in 'free speech'

University officials were upset at the creation of the page for white students – though not at the formation of a black-oriented group – so much so that the school is working with Facebook to ban the White Student Union site (as in, have it removed).

"It is disturbing and cowardly that someone would create an anonymous and senseless social media page specifically designed to intimidate others, including and especially our students. When we became aware of the page, we immediately contacted Facebook and requested that it be removed," campus spokeswoman Robin Kaler told the Daily Illini.

The Post reported that the page did not last long in its original version, and was taken down after three hours. But it has since been recreated here.

Campus administrators gave obligatory statements claiming to support the First Amendment's freedom of speech provision, but they really don't, as evidenced by Interim Chancellor Barbara Wilson, who wrote in a message to the student body, "We recognize the right to free speech, and we encourage you to exercise that right when you see examples of racism, discrimination or intimidation on our campus." She went on to characterize the White Student Union page as "extremely disturbing," obviously clueless about her own hypocrisy.

They can't even see their own hypocrisy

A review of the White Student Union Facebook page by Natural News found no evidence of intimidation, discrimination or racism in any of the posts to date. As of this writing, the last post had been made Nov. 27, and contained a link to a YouTube video of what appeared to be a young, white talk radio host mocking the union and deriding it as – you guessed it – "racist."

The White Student Union page's administrator, in an anonymous letter to The News-Gazette, explained the purpose of the page in discussing Black Lives Matter.

"We feel they disrupt student daily life and activity far too much," said the message, adding that the movement "marginalizes" white students.

"We are in the United States and not Africa and we don't desire to have an African flag on campus," the message continued.

But the message failed to resonate with many Illinois students and, obviously, the university's administrators. As reported by the News-Gazette, many Illini students ironically turned to Facebook and other social media to voice their displeasure (using that First Amendment thing).

"It is so sad to see that such ignorance still exists in 2015," wrote another commenter, Kiana Kimbrough. "The creator and supporters of this page are pathetic. These people are cowards that hide behind an anonymous account. Grow up."

Not every commenter agreed with that.

"As a Mexican American I do not find this page racist or in poor taste," another wrote. "It's only fair that you are allowed to have your own page and the same rights to freedom of speech as black Illini students have."

Equality is just that – equal – and when individuals are no longer treated equally but, rather, given special status and privilege because of their race, that's not equality – that's a form of racism.

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